HOME > NEWS > LOCAL
COMMENTS |
| 
Many of Georgia’s contested races for seats in Congress feature incumbents with extremely low grades on the Human Rights Campaign’s congressional scorecard, which focuses on gay and HIV issues.
• Congressional District 1: Rep. Jack Kingston (R-Savannah) has occupied the First District seat for 15 years; he has earned scores of 0 out of 100 from HRC for the last three terms. He faces challenger Bill Gillespie.
• Congressional District 2: Rep. Sanford Bishop’s (D-Albany) scores from the HRC have fluctuated; his voting record for 2008 earned him a 70 from the HRC, ranking behind unopposed Reps. John Lewis (D-Atlanta) and Henry “Hank” Johnson (D-Atlanta).
Bishop’s opponent, Lee Ferrell, writes on his website that while he believes marriage is a state rights issue, “[I]f it becomes necessary for the federal government to intervene, I support the definition of marriage as the union between one man and one woman.”
• Congressional District 3: Rep. Lynn Westmoreland (R-Sharpsburg), who has earned scores of 0 on gay and HIV issues from HRC since coming to office in 2004, faces Democratic challenger Stephen Camp.
• Congressional District 6: Rep. Tom Price (R-Roswell) has received a 10 and a 0 from the HRC since coming to Congress in 2004. He is defending a district that includes largely Republicans swaths of East Cobb County and Roswell from Air Force veteran and CEO Bill Jones.
• Congressional District 7: Fair Tax promoter Rep. John Linder (R- Duluth) had received nothing but 0 scores from the HRC for his past three terms. He is trying to ward off a challenge from Doug Heckman.
• Congressional District 8: Polls show this to be one of the closest Congressional races in Georgia. Rep. Jim Marshall (D-Macon) has scored a 15, 25, and 11 from the HRC for each of his last three terms. His challenger, Rick Goddard, told the Tifton Gazette that the U.S. Constitution sets forth “the basic morals of marriage being between a man and a woman.”
• Congressional District 9: Having scored a 0 from the HRC for three terms running, Rep. Nathan Deal (R-Gainesville) is defending the seat he has held since 1992 from teacher Jeff Scott of Chickamauga.
• Congressional District 10: Rep. Paul Broun (R-Athens) introduced the Federal Marriage Amendment this year during his freshman term and scored 0 on the HRC report card. He is defending his largely Republican district from self-proclaimed conservative Democrat Bobby Saxon.
• Congressional District 11: Rep. Phil Gingrey (R-Marietta), who routinely scores 0 from the HRC, is expected to cruise to reelection over Democrat Hugh “Bud” Gammon of Rome.
• Congressional District 12: Incumbent Rep. John Barrow (D-Savannah) is fighting to hold on to his seat against John Stone. Barrow has a mixed history on gay issues, supporting the Defense of Marriage Act while also supporting expanding hate crimes legislation. He has scored 25 from the HRC during both of his terms in Congress.
Stone has never held public office, but has been a talk show radio host and worked for two Republican Congressmen. On his website he states he would, “support a Constitutional Amendment and any other federal legislation necessary to preserve marriage as only between a man and woman.”
• Congressional District 13: Members of the Congressional Black Caucus are rallying around Rep. David Scott (D-Atlanta). Scott, whose district is considered strongly Democratic, has been under increasing attack from challenger Republican Deborah Honeycutt.
Honeycutt has accused Scott of being corrupt, and referred to him as part of the Bush administration.
Although Scott has supported the Defense of Marriage Act in the past, he works with the HRC on a number of issues. His rating on the HRC scorecard has fluctuated since he took office; he earned a 55 in 2004, a 38 in 2006; and a 55 this year.
|
